One too many K-pop concerts?

K-pop artists line up on stage at a special “Music Bank” program that was held in Chile last November in this file photo. The popular music program has been hosting more overseas editions since the growth in the popularity of K-pop. / Korea Times file

Cancellations

raise questions

on quality,

contents

By Kim Ji-soo

Several K-pop concerts that had been slated to take place in Southeast Asia this month have been cancelled, raising concerns.

The M!Countdown concert scheduled for July 3 in Jakarta, Indonesia was cancelled five days prior to the event. Leading K-pop stars such as Shinhwa, 2PM, 2NE1, BEAST, Sistar, Secret and 4minute were included in the line-up.

“There was a problem with issuance of the artists visas, so we decided to cancel the concert to ensure safety for the performers,” said Oh Ji-eun, senior analyst in public relations at CJ E& M said.

The M!Countdown concerts are held usually every quarter, and the Indonesian one was planned for the second quarter. The cancellation means that the company will hold the M!Countdown in August, in the third quarter, as part of “KCON” or Korean pop culture convention that will be held Aug. 24-25 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Kim Jun-su of JYJ sings on a stage in this file photo for his solo concert held in Bangkok, Thailand. / Yonhap

A July 13 concert organized by KBS Media, which is affiliated with the Korean Broadcasting System, in Thailand was cancelled. The groups of 4minute, MBLAQ, B1A4 and U-Kiss were to hold a joint concert. This concert was called off when the localThai promoter for the concert pulled away as pre-ticket sales was dented by another massive concert that is planned for Aug. 17 in Bangkok.The organizer of the Aug. 17 concert is the KBS’s Global Hallyu Center.

“We believe the low pre-ticket sales and the comparatively smaller line to our 14- 15 groups including the 4minute, Sistar and B1A4 seemed impractical in market terms (to the local promoter),” said Kim Jang-soo, an official with the KBS’s Global Hallyu Center.

But there is concern in the K-pop industry that an oversupply of K-pop concerts in Japan and Southeast Asia is leading to weak ticket sales and making it difficult to find relevant funding to hold the concerts overseas.

For example, a minimum of 20 to 30 concerts are being held in Thailand where K-pop reigns strong. That translates into a market situation where there is more supply than demand, at least in Southeast Asia.

K-pop group TVXQ performs on a Shanghai stage on July 21. The SM Entertainment group is continuing on its successful world tour.

For regions like Latin America where K-pop is also popular, the distance and therefore the cost have made it a destination that only leading entertainment agenices or government-supported concert can go into.

Despite these factors, holding a concert overseas is an irresistible business option, or rather a cash cow for the talent management agencies.

According to the first-quarter paper conducted by a “Hallyu Trend AnalysisConsultative Body,” affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there were seven K-pop concerts held in Thailand in the first quarter. K-pop groups Super Junior hosted a concert, After School held a fan meeting, MBC”s music program “Korea Music Wave in Bangkok” was held and the groups of “Team-H,” 2PM and CNBLUE graced the Thai stages.

In Indonesia, the KBS’s music program “Music Bank World Tour 2013 Live in Jakarta” was held. The popular rookie-group B1A4 held a showcase and the concerts by the group Beast and G-Dragon of Big Bang took the Indonesian stages. Beast, 4minute and G-Na performed in Malaysia in a joint format titled “AIA K-pop Concert.” A mini concert by Sistar and a showcase by LunaFly were also held.

The difference between the broadcaster or cable channel-hosted concerts and agency-planned ones is that the former can command a various mix of K-pop artists because of the influence of their weekly music programs. However, industry insiders are seeing a shift in trend in overseas fans.

“K-pop fans overseas are now more interested in concerts by one group rather than a lineup. They have formed a fandom, one can say,” said Park Sung-hyun, aresearcher at the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange.

“Also, these days talent management agencies are providing high-quality performances when they take their stars overseas where they know how to emphasize the each individual artist or K-pop group’s strengths” rather than a general, broad presentation of the K-pop stars in one line, he added.

K-pop has fans all over, but it’s usually the neighboring Asian countries where these concerts are held. The fans in these countries are much more responsive to cultural inflow, but the K-pop content producers should work on getting to know the individual markets more specifically and adapt to how they operate, Park said.

He also added that K-pop producers need to realize the demand for high-quality content and conjure up ways to diversify the content they provide, that at the moment largely comes in the form of overseas performance. Only recently, leading talent management companies such as SM Entertainment and YGEntertainments haves produced hologram content.